Here we go.
For years, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) CEO Dana White
has taken aim at boxing promoters. Most either ignore him or fire back cautiously — though Oscar De La Hoya has never been shy about lobbing verbal grenades of his own, only for White to respond with something personal.Now that White is fully immersed in boxing with Zuffa Boxing, he has a new list of targets. Recently, he turned his attention to Matchroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn, someone he’s maintained a relatively respectful
relationship with over the years. That appears to be over.
The tension escalated after Hearn criticized Zuffa Boxing’s newly unveiled world title, which will be on the line next month (details). Following Zuffa Boxing 3, White fired back, essentially labeling Hearn a “daddy’s boy” with no vision while saying he’s “beating up babies” in terms of other boxing promoters.
That didn’t sit well.
“It’s very strange because I’ve got to be honest with you, I wouldn’t say up my ass, but Dana’s always been so complimentary about us as a company, and me as a promoter, but to say that I don’t have any vision is really quite strange,” Hearn told The Stomping Ground. “I mean, right now, when you talk about Zuffa or whatever it’s called, when you talk about their vision, what’s their vision? Getting Max Kellerman to tell everyone that Callum Walsh is the next Roy Jones? Or putting Charles Martin on a headline show on a Sunday night in front of 126 people in your garage? In a ring that looks like you just got it out of a local club show. What sort of f—king vision’s that?”
“Or better yet, here’s a belt, here’s Zuffa, look at the vision. That’s not vision. That’s control,” Hearn continued. “Because the reality is, when he says ‘we can’t compete’ — they can’t compete in this cutthroat world of boxing. Because it’s a horrible world, and they don’t want to compete. They want to create their own world.”
While White has urged critics to judge Zuffa Boxing at the end of 2026, Hearn isn’t waiting.
“Listen, at the moment when you compare Matchroom shows to Zuffa shows, quite frankly, Zuffa shows are absolute complete dogshit,” Hearn said. “But they’re going to get better, and they’re going to sign some big fighters, and they’re going to spunk some money, they’re going to waste some money. I’ve said it before, they’re clever people. But right now they’re trying to manipulate fight fans, and they don’t understand how intelligent fight fans are when it comes to boxing. You can’t create these cards and tell everyone it’s the best vs. the best because it’s quite frankly not.”
Hearn didn’t shy away from admitting he works for his dad—but he highlighted White’s hypocrisy, pointing to White’s former rich ‘daddies’ and his current filthy-rich business partner.
“The reality is yes, I do work for my dad,” Hearn said. “But guess what? Dana White has worked for his daddy for a long time. The Fertitta brothers, that’s who he worked for. Right now, Dana White’s got a new daddy, and his name is Turki Alalshikh. Turki Alalshikh is Dana White’s papi. He has got to do whatever he’s told because he works for TKO, which is owned by SELA and the Saudis and Turki Alalshikh.”
“It took him a nanosecond to get personal,” Hearn concluded. “But that’s because right now he’s right at the bottom of the pile in terms of quality as a boxing promoter. As I keep saying, they’re a good operation, and they will get better.”
At least now, White has a promoter willing to go tic-for-tac without flinching.
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